The collection / 44 fragments

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Passages, proverbs, and questions carried across the ages.

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01Undated

As a nation, we began by declaring that ‘all men are created equal.’ We now practically read it ‘all men are created equal, except negroes.’ When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read ‘all men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and catholics.’ When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretence of loving liberty—to Russia, for instance.

Doris Kearns Goodwin / quote

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02Undated

If he could not go out into the world, the world could come to him.

Doris Kearns Goodwin / quote

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03Undated

We have the right to demand that if we find men against whom there is not only suspicion, but almost a certainty that they have had collusion with men whose interests were in conflict with the interests of the public, they shall, at least, be required to bring positive facts with which to prove there has not been such collusion; and they ought themselves to have been the first to demand such an investigation." -Teddy Roosevelt

Doris Kearns Goodwin / quote

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04Undated

I hope to stand firm enough not to go backward, and yet not go forward fast enough to wreck the country's cause.

Doris Kearns Goodwin / quote

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05Undated

Well, did anything interesting happen today?' [my father] would begin. And even before the daily question was completed I had eagerly launched into my narrative of every play, and almost every pitch, of that afternoon's contest. It never crossed my mind to wonder if, at the close of a day's work, he might find my lengthy account the least bit tedious. For there was mastery as well as pleasure in our nightly ritual. Through my knowledge, I commanded my father's undivided attention, the sign of his love. It would instill in me an early awareness of the power of narrative, which would introduce a lifetime of storytelling, fueled by the naive confidence that others would find me as entertaining as my father did.

Doris Kearns Goodwin / quote

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06Undated

Go ahead, and fear not. You will have a full library at your service.

Doris Kearns Goodwin / quote

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07Undated

The books my mother read and reread provided a broader, more adventurous world, and escape from the confines of her chronic illness. Her interior life was enriched even as her physical life contracted. If she couldn't change the reality of her situation, she could change her perception of it. She could enter into the lives of the characters in her books, sharing their journeys while she remained seated in her chair.

Doris Kearns Goodwin / quote

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08Undated

One-time rival and subsequent usurper Secretary of State Seward finally settled into an assessment of Lincoln that, "His confidence and compassion increase every day.

Doris Kearns Goodwin / quote

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09Undated

Teddy Roosevelt "had relished "every hour" of every day as president. Indeed, (he was) fearing the "dull thud" he would experience upon returning to private life.

Doris Kearns Goodwin / quote

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10Undated

The habit of mobility had become ingrained.

Doris Kearns Goodwin / quote

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11Undated

The same magazines which not long before advertised products which would quickly allow women to return to their war work now extolled elaborate recipes which women could attempt if they stayed home and vacated jobs for men.

Doris Kearns Goodwin / quote

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12Undated

She feared that she would become a slave to superficial, symbolic duties.

Doris Kearns Goodwin / quote

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13Undated

(Taft's mother's) losing her firstborn had convinced her that children are treasures lent not given and that they may be recalled at any time. Parents, she firmly believed, could never love their children too much.

Doris Kearns Goodwin / quote

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14Undated

Excitement about things became a habit, a part of my personality, and the expectation that I should enjoy new experiences often engendered the enjoyment itself.

Doris Kearns Goodwin / quote

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15Undated

The author writes that key FDR aide Harry Hopkins was in such poor health near the end of his boss's second term that one observer said he didn't know how Hopkins could possibly report to the president. But, at the onset of war and genuine national emergency, Hopkins was animated with a new sense of purpose.

Doris Kearns Goodwin / quote

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16Undated

I read them (articles TR wrote on his honeymoon) all over to Edith and her corrections and help were most valuable to me.

Doris Kearns Goodwin / quote

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17Undated

Lincoln, considering a Cabinet nominee: "He is a Radical without the petulance and fretfulness of many radicals.

Doris Kearns Goodwin / quote

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18Undated

One journalist complemented another that his article on a dispute, "had made both sides see themselves as they are.

Doris Kearns Goodwin / quote

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19Undated

In the reflected gaze of his (her husband's) steady admiration, she saw the face of the girl he had fallen in love with.

Doris Kearns Goodwin / quote

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20Undated

He (William Howard Taft) had little patience with the unconscious arrogance of conscious wealth and financial success.

Doris Kearns Goodwin / quote

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21Undated

I have plenty of information now, but I can't get it into words. I'm afraid it's too big a task for me. I wonder if I will find everything in life too big for my abilities. Well, time will tell." Theodore Roosevelt, writing in naval history in his spare time while in law school

Doris Kearns Goodwin / quote

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22Undated

As soon as (Teddy Roosevelt) received an assignment for a paper or project, he would set to work, never leaving anything to the last minute. Prepared so far ahead "freed his mind" from worry and facilitated fresh, lucid thought.

Doris Kearns Goodwin / quote

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23Undated

Of Teddy Roosevelt and his siblings, the author writes they were, "armed with an innate curiosity and discipline fostered by his remarkable father.

Doris Kearns Goodwin / quote

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24Undated

Their lifelong love of learning, their remarkable wide-ranging intellectual curiosity, was fostered primarily by their father. He read aloud to them at night, eliciting their responses to works of history and literature. He organized amateur plays for them, encourage pursuit of special interests, prompted them to write essays on their readings, and urge them to recite poetry.

Doris Kearns Goodwin / quote

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